Ferocious France beat Argentina in Olympics grudge match

France turned on the style to overwhelm Argentina – their recent antagonists – as the hosts reached the semi-finals of Olympics men’s sevens in front of an euphoric Parisian crowd.

London-born wing Aaron Grandidier scored two scintillating tries in a 26-14 victory for Les Bleus and led the jubilant celebrations at full-time with 70,000 supporters in the Stade de France.

French fans have been upset by the behaviour of Argentina’s footballers towards their nation.

Bad blood between the two countries’ football teams has developed – with Argentina judged to have celebrated their 2022 World Cup win too exuberantly and players recently filmed chanting what is a deemed a racist song against their French counterparts.

It led to Los Pumas being angrily booed when they ran out into the Stade de France before each of their matches at the Olympic event.

The atmosphere was ferocious in the early stages of Thursday’s quarter-final – and the intensity of the French players matched it.

“I know we’ve only just won a quarter-final but the emotions we’re living in this stadium we have never experienced,” Grandidier told BBC Sport.

“It is really moving. Having 69,000 people for a game of sevens has never been seen in history.”

After a series of underwhelming performances in the pool stage, where they finished second behind Fiji, this was a statement performance from France.

Back-rower Andy Timo scored the opening try after two minutes before 24-year-old Grandidier, who has an English father and a French mother, twice stormed in down the right.

Rayan Rebbadj added the conversions as France led 21-0 at half-time, even with talisman Antoine Dupont starting on the bench.

“We knew we had to start strong against a team like Argentina, they have been so good this season,” said Grandidier.

“If we didn’t put in a XXL performance against them we knew we would be in trouble.”

Argentina narrowed the deficit to 21-14 through tries from Rodrigo Isgro and Marcos Moneta after the break, with Joaquin Pellandini kicking the extras.

Dupont, the irrepressible 15s superstar who is one of the poster boys of the Games, came on to add some nous as France played patiently to slow down their opponent’s momentum.

Of course, Dupont had to sprinkle some magic too. The scrum-half ran in a late try to seal victory and end Argentina’s hopes of what would have been seen as a villainous comeback.

Grandidier was at the centre of the celebrations after the final whistle, high-fiving the gleeful supporters on the front row behind the dugout.

“We need to play without pressure which maybe let us down the first couple of games but we set the record straight,” he said.